2016: Don Donnelly, Longtime Track Coach

A celebration of Don Donnelly’s life will be held at the La Mesa Community Center on Nov. 14 from 2:30-5:30 p.m.

Donnelly, 87, passed recently after a lifetime of athletics and coaching, principally track and field and cross country.

A 1947 graduate of Hoover High, where he played football and competed in track, Donnelly got into coaching after service during the Korean war and graduation from San Diego State.

His first appointment was in 1956 at Hart High in Newhall, where Donnelly helped mentor Bob Avant, a future state champion in the high jump and who later was principal at Valhalla High.

Donnelly returned to San Diego the following year and was involved in cross country and track at Mission Bay, where he was an assistant to Chuck Coover and coached Jim Cerveny, the 1957 state champion in the 880-yard run and future world-class 800-meter competitor.

When the new Crawford High opened in 1957, Donnelly coached cross country and was assistat track coach to Walt Harvey, succeeding Harvey in 1963.

Donnelly opened the new Morse High in the fall of 1963 and coached track and cross country and guided future Olympic long jumper Arnie Robinson, among others.

Donnelly eventually moved to Santana, coached boys’ and girls’ track and cross country, and stayed active in retirement, competing in senior track events and as a member of various local sports organizations.

“He lived every moment right up to his final day, upbeat and positive all the way,” said the coach’s widow, Mary Donnelly.